Plymouth And Dodge Street Racing Cars – Lonestar Shootout

Five Cars, A Quarter-Mile Of Asphalt, And One Winner

We have long wanted to get some cars together and do a shootout, and so last October on a cool day in Houston, Texas, at the 2005 Lonestar Shootout, we did just that. We picked eight owners and their cars from the list that had entered the show and wanted to be involved, and had them meet us at the show so we could pit them in a run-whatcha-brung-type of bracket race. We didn’t want to see a bunch of race cars that guys loosely call street cars; we wanted real-world, drive-em-on-the-weekend, hit-the-road-type of cars.

Barry Barker, Robert Greenlee, Rusty Webster, Bobby Drake, and Brian Uccello, answered the call. Yep, that’s only five and we wanted eight. We’re not sure what happened to the other participants, but they never made it to the show.

Even though only five guys were able to make the call with their cars, we let them have at it. Those five guys are definitely true car guys. Sure, the cars were show caliber, but all the guys flogged the crap out of them on the strip. Not one of the competitors babied their car down the track. There was smoke, hard launches, and even a little friendly smack talk before the racing began. Even though the competition didn’t begin until Saturday, some of them practically made round robin blasts down the track during Friday’s time trials. On Saturday, during qualifying runs, one of the competitors had an issue with a starter that prevented him from starting his car. He took it home, changed the starter, and made it back in time for racing. The only problem was he was unable to make any time shots on Saturday so he would know where to dial his car in for Sunday. The rest of the guys are true testaments to the lengths enthusiasts will go to help each other-the remaining four offered to give him a bye run in the first round of competition so he could at least get an idea of what to dial in. fortunately, we were able to get a couple time trials in before we had to begin the competition.

For this, our first shootout, the five cars competing were a true representation of a street car. They were all registered, had street tires, full interiors, and were driven regularly. By regularly, we don’t mean they jumped in them on Saturday night, drove to the local cruise night, and then back home. No sir, these guys informed us they all see frequent duty on the highway. They even drive them to work occasionally.

So here they are, the participants of the 2005 Mopar Muscle/Lonestar Shootout.

Dangerous Duster
Brian Uccello – The Woodlands, Texas
1971 Duster

340 .040-inch overbore

Stock rods and TRW pistons; 10.0 compression ratio

Stock crankshaft

Comp Cams Hydraulic flat-tappet; 477/488 – 224/230 at .050

Gasket matched “J” heads

Cast-iron intake with ThermoQuad

727 transmission with a Hughes 11-inch converter

Stock manifolds with stock exhaust

8-3/4 with Sure Grip and 3.55 gears

Ran .02 under dial and lost to Bobby Drake in Round One

Brian was the only small-block entry in our competition and held his ground. Brian’s numbers-matching Duster is the epitome of a street car. In 1973, Brian’s first car was a GTX with a four-speed, but he really wanted a ’71 340 Duster. That was in 1973; finally in 1998, he found what he wanted. This Duster originally retains all its factory sheetmetal, as well as the factory A/C. Brian tells us his Duster usually runs 13.50s, but during our shootout, he was experiencing some ignition gremlins, even with the 3.55 gear and 205/70/14 all-season radials. During our first qualifying session, Brian forgot to put his pants on (He was wearing shorts!), and so for safety reasons, he couldn’t make the first round of time shots. But he did get to make it up. During the rest of the event, he remembered his pants and ripped off several low-14-second and 13-second runs.

60-ft

1/8-mile/mph

1/4-mile/mph

Driver Comments

2.087

8.989/79.62

13.985/97.44

Car laid down in Second gear

2.120

9.014/79.74

14.046/96.89

Same issue

2.107

9.038/78.97

14.160/94.99

Ignition miss

2.091

9.038/77.75

14.234/94.19

Broke out .02, lost round 1

Purple HazeBarry Barker – Cypress, Texas1971 Challenger convertible

440

Stock rods with Keith Black pistons; 9.2 compression ratio

Stock crankshaft

Hughes HE3038 camshaft; 230 at .050-inch

Ported 452 heads

Edelbrock Performer with Edelbrock carburetor

727 transmission with 11-inch Circle D converter

tti headers with 211/42-inch exhaust

831/44 with Sure Grip and 3.23 gears

Won Round One against Robert Greenlee

Won Round Two against Rusty Webster

Lost in final Round to Bobby Drake

Barry definitely has one gorgeous ’71 Challenger convertible. He brought out his showroom-condition ride to show that Mopars were made to race. before Barry bought the Challenger, he wanted an E-Body, while his wife wanted a Corvette. When Barry’s wife left for a trip, her words of “don’t buy a car while I’m gone” must have gotten lost in translation, because that’s when Barry found and acquired the ’71. The car underwent the required rebuild, and in Barry’s words, “Cars are meant for the drag strip,” so he started driving and racing it from time to time. Barry tells us his car ran its fastest pass down the quarter-mile this weekend.

60-ft

1/8-mile/mph

1/4-mile/mph

Driver Comments

2.127

8.82/82.05

13.62/103.38

Spin at launch

2.032

8.72/81.91

13.54/102.19

1/2 throttle launch, lower tire pressure

2.041

8.77/81.75

13.58/101.83

Same as previous

1.979

8.62/82.45

13.41/103.63

Best run ever

Red RushRusty Webster – Pasadena, Texas1969 Road Runner

440 .030-overbore

Eagle rods and Ross pistons; 10.5:1 compression ratio

Eagle 4.15-inch crankshaft (Final cubic-inch 493)

Comp solid flat tappet; 557/246 at .050

Ported Edelbrock aluminum heads

Holley Street Dominator with 950 HP Holley carburetor

A-833 four-speed

Hooker Super Comp headers with 3-inch exhaust.

831/44 Sure Grip with 3.91 gears

Bye win in First Round

Lost to Barry Barker in Second Round

Way back when Rusty was in high school, he owned a ’74 Road Runner. He liked the car, but he really liked the ’69 body style. It took awhile, but eventually Rusty found this one. He tells us he drives this car frequently and really enjoys taking it to the track. For this event, however, Rusty almost didn’t make it. The week before the show, he had some problems that bent some pushrods, which almost meant the car wouldn’t make the competition. Luckily, friend and shootout competitor, Robert Greenlee, was able to lend a hand and get the car running. On Friday night during time trials, Rusty’s car started running rough and then just stopped. Fearing the worst, he thought it was a repeat of the previous week. As soon as he and Robert pulled the distributor cap, they found the metal contactor on the rotor had come off. They replaced the rotor, and Rusty was racing again.

60-ft

1/8-mile/mph

1/4-mile/mph

Driver Comments

2.179

8.527/87.74

12.911/113.64

severe tire spin

2.049

8.494/85.93

12.911/114.94

Same

1.978

8.366/88.45

12.69/115.29

Same

2.07

8.347/87.36

12.735/113.35

Still spinning

Six-Pack AttackRobert Greenlee – Deer Park, Texas1969 Road Runner

440 .030-inch overbore

Manley Rods with Wiseco pistons; 10.5:1 compression ratio

Paul’s Crankshaft 4.15-inch stroker (493 final cubic-inches)

Comp Cams solid flat tappet; 582/597 – 258 at .050-inch

Stock Edelbrock aluminum heads

Aluminum Six Pack with Holley carbs

727 with a Dynamic 10-inch converter

Hooker Super Comp with 3-inch exhaust

Dana 60 with Sure Grip and 3.54 gears

Lost in First Round to Barry Barker

Robert’s first car was a ’69 Road Runner, and those memories stayed with him because he had to have another one. In his words, “it may be as aerodynamic as a brick, but who cares?” He loves to drive and race his car, and many of the aftermarket parts are a compromise to achieve driveability. It’s a true driver, having made the cross-country trek for the 1998 Power Tour (with the A/C on), and then again for the Woodward dream cruise in Detroit. Robert says his car may be easier to tune and run better with a single four-barrel, but since the Six Pack is synonymous with Mopar performance, it’s going to stay.

Just to make sure Robert’s Runner has enough power under the hood, a nitrous-oxide system is plumbed into the Six Pack, but for some reason, he never used it that weekend.

60-ft

1/8-mile/mph

1/4-mile/mph

Driver Comments

1.803

7.62/91.73

11.961/112.67

1.855

7.675/91.73

12.006/112.81

timing to 38 degrees

1.879

7.685/92.21

11.993/113.42

timing back to 36 degrees

2.009

7.827/91.98

12.145/113.32

Sleeping launch, lost round 1

The Winner

Bobby Drake – Madisonville, Texas1970 Road Runner

440 .060-inch overbore

Stock Steel rods with Federal Mogul pistons 9.8:1 compression ratio

Mopar Performance 4.15-inch crankshaft (500 total cubic inches)

Hughes hydraulic camshaft; 540/555 – 244 at .050-inch

Stock Edelbrock aluminum

Edelbrock performer with 850 BG Speed Demon

727 with B&M 10-inch converter

tti 2-inch headers into 3-inch exhaust

831/44 Sure Grip with 3.55 gears.

Won Round One against Brian Uccello

Bye Win in Second Round

Won Final against Barry Barker

At the beginning of this article we mentioned a car that was having starter issues. Well, Bobby Drake was the gentleman with that car. Sure, changing a starter may not sound like a daunting task, but try it with 2-inch headers. They needed to be loosened from the head, and the starter finessed out of the hole. Bobby left the track Saturday night, made the swap, and returned Sunday for racing. Bobby has owned this Road Runner for a couple of years now, and drives it every chance he gets. While he was definitely the quickest car in our competition, he was also the only one using drag radials. Hey, there was no rule that said he couldn’t. Bobby’s 60-foot times were consistently in the 1.59-1.61 range for all his passes.

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